smbpasswd

Name

smbpasswd — change a user's SMB password

Synopsis

smbpasswd [-a] [-c <config file>] [-x] [-d] [-e] [-D debuglevel] [-n] [-r <remote machine>] [-R <name resolve order>] [-m] [-U username[%password]] [-h] [-s] [-w pass] [-W] [-i] [-L] [username]

DESCRIPTION

This tool is part of the samba(7) suite.

The smbpasswd program has several different + functions, depending on whether it is run by the root user + or not. When run as a normal user it allows the user to change + the password used for their SMB sessions on any machines that store + SMB passwords.

By default (when run with no arguments) it will attempt to + change the current user's SMB password on the local machine. This is + similar to the way the passwd(1) program works. + smbpasswd differs from how the passwd program works + however in that it is not setuid root but works in + a client-server mode and communicates with a + locally running smbd(8). As a consequence in order for this to + succeed the smbd daemon must be running on the local machine. On a + UNIX machine the encrypted SMB passwords are usually stored in + the smbpasswd(5) file.

When run by an ordinary user with no options, smbpasswd + will prompt them for their old SMB password and then ask them + for their new password twice, to ensure that the new password + was typed correctly. No passwords will be echoed on the screen + whilst being typed. If you have a blank SMB password (specified by + the string "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd file) then just press + the <Enter> key when asked for your old password.

smbpasswd can also be used by a normal user to change their + SMB password on remote machines, such as Windows NT Primary Domain + Controllers. See the (-r) and -U options + below.

When run by root, smbpasswd allows new users to be added + and deleted in the smbpasswd file, as well as allows changes to + the attributes of the user in this file to be made. When run by root, + smbpasswd accesses the local smbpasswd file + directly, thus enabling changes to be made even if smbd is not + running.

OPTIONS

-a

+ This option specifies that the username following should be added to the local smbpasswd file, with the new + password typed (type <Enter> for the old password). This option is ignored if the username following + already exists in the smbpasswd file and it is treated like a regular change password command. Note that the + default passdb backends require the user to already exist in the system password file (usually + /etc/passwd), else the request to add the user will fail. +

This option is only available when running smbpasswd + as root.

-c

+ This option can be used to specify the path and file name of the smb.conf configuration file when it + is important to use other than the default file and / or location. +

-x

+ This option specifies that the username following should be deleted from the local smbpasswd file. +

+ This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root. +

-d

This option specifies that the username following + should be disabled in the local smbpasswd + file. This is done by writing a 'D' flag + into the account control space in the smbpasswd file. Once this + is done all attempts to authenticate via SMB using this username + will fail.

If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format (pre-Samba 2.0 + format) there is no space in the user's password entry to write + this information and the command will FAIL. See smbpasswd(5) for details on the 'old' and new password file formats. +

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as + root.

-e

This option specifies that the username following + should be enabled in the local smbpasswd file, + if the account was previously disabled. If the account was not + disabled this option has no effect. Once the account is enabled then + the user will be able to authenticate via SMB once again.

If the smbpasswd file is in the 'old' format, then + smbpasswd will FAIL to enable the account. + See smbpasswd(5) for + details on the 'old' and new password file formats.

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root. +

-D debuglevel

debuglevel is an integer + from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified + is zero.

The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the + log files about the activities of smbpasswd. At level 0, only + critical errors and serious warnings will be logged.

Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log + data, and should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels + above 3 are designed for use only by developers and generate + HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic. +

-n

This option specifies that the username following + should have their password set to null (i.e. a blank password) in + the local smbpasswd file. This is done by writing the string "NO + PASSWORD" as the first part of the first password stored in the + smbpasswd file.

Note that to allow users to logon to a Samba server once + the password has been set to "NO PASSWORD" in the smbpasswd + file the administrator must set the following parameter in the [global] + section of the smb.conf file :

null passwords = yes

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as + root.

-r remote machine name

This option allows a user to specify what machine + they wish to change their password on. Without this parameter + smbpasswd defaults to the local host. The remote + machine name is the NetBIOS name of the SMB/CIFS + server to contact to attempt the password change. This name is + resolved into an IP address using the standard name resolution + mechanism in all programs of the Samba suite. See the -R + name resolve order parameter for details on changing + this resolving mechanism.

The username whose password is changed is that of the + current UNIX logged on user. See the -U username + parameter for details on changing the password for a different + username.

Note that if changing a Windows NT Domain password the + remote machine specified must be the Primary Domain Controller for + the domain (Backup Domain Controllers only have a read-only + copy of the user account database and will not allow the password + change).

Note that Windows 95/98 do not have + a real password database so it is not possible to change passwords + specifying a Win95/98 machine as remote machine target.

-R name resolve order

This option allows the user of smbpasswd to determine + what name resolution services to use when looking up the NetBIOS + name of the host being connected to.

The options are :"lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They + cause names to be resolved as follows:

lmhosts: Lookup an IP + address in the Samba lmhosts file. If the line in lmhosts has + no name type attached to the NetBIOS name (see the lmhosts(5) for details) then + any name type matches for lookup.
host: Do a standard host + name to IP address resolution, using the system /etc/hosts +, NIS, or DNS lookups. This method of name resolution + is operating system depended for instance on IRIX or Solaris this + may be controlled by the /etc/nsswitch.conf + file). Note that this method is only used if the NetBIOS name + type being queried is the 0x20 (server) name type, otherwise + it is ignored.
wins: Query a name with + the IP address listed in the wins server + parameter. If no WINS server has been specified this method + will be ignored.
bcast: Do a broadcast on + each of the known local interfaces listed in the + interfaces parameter. This is the least + reliable of the name resolution methods as it depends on the + target host being on a locally connected subnet.

The default order is lmhosts, host, wins, bcast + and without this parameter or any entry in the smb.conf(5) file the name resolution methods will + be attempted in this order.

-m

This option tells smbpasswd that the account + being changed is a MACHINE account. Currently this is used + when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller.

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root. +

-U username

This option may only be used in conjunction + with the -r option. When changing + a password on a remote machine it allows the user to specify + the user name on that machine whose password will be changed. It + is present to allow users who have different user names on + different systems to change these passwords.

-h

This option prints the help string for + smbpasswd, selecting the correct one for running as root + or as an ordinary user.

-s

This option causes smbpasswd to be silent (i.e. + not issue prompts) and to read its old and new passwords from + standard input, rather than from /dev/tty + (like the passwd(1) program does). This option + is to aid people writing scripts to drive smbpasswd

-w password

This parameter is only available if Samba + has been compiled with LDAP support. The -w + switch is used to specify the password to be used with the + ldap admin dn. Note that the password is stored in + the secrets.tdb and is keyed off + of the admin's DN. This means that if the value of ldap + admin dn ever changes, the password will need to be + manually updated as well. +

-W

NOTE: This option is same as "-w" + except that the password should be entered using stdin. +

This parameter is only available if Samba + has been compiled with LDAP support. The -W + switch is used to specify the password to be used with the + ldap admin dn. Note that the password is stored in + the secrets.tdb and is keyed off + of the admin's DN. This means that if the value of ldap + admin dn ever changes, the password will need to be + manually updated as well. +

-i

This option tells smbpasswd that the account + being changed is an interdomain trust account. Currently this is used + when Samba is being used as an NT Primary Domain Controller. + The account contains the info about another trusted domain.

This option is only available when running smbpasswd as root. +

-L

Run in local mode.

username

This specifies the username for all of the + root only options to operate on. Only root + can specify this parameter as only root has the permission needed + to modify attributes directly in the local smbpasswd file. +

NOTES

Since smbpasswd works in client-server + mode communicating with a local smbd for a non-root user then + the smbd daemon must be running for this to work. A common problem + is to add a restriction to the hosts that may access the + smbd running on the local machine by specifying either allow + hosts or deny hosts entry in + the smb.conf(5) file and neglecting to + allow "localhost" access to the smbd.

In addition, the smbpasswd command is only useful if Samba + has been set up to use encrypted passwords.

VERSION

This man page is correct for version 3.0 of the Samba suite.

AUTHOR

The original Samba software and related utilities + were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed + by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar + to the way the Linux kernel is developed.

The original Samba man pages were written by Karl Auer. + The man page sources were converted to YODL format (another + excellent piece of Open Source software, available at + ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/) and updated for the Samba 2.0 + release by Jeremy Allison. The conversion to DocBook for + Samba 2.2 was done by Gerald Carter. The conversion to DocBook XML 4.2 + for Samba 3.0 was done by Alexander Bokovoy.

Name

Synopsis

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

NOTES

VERSION

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR